News and Events

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a volunteer is an individual who provides services, without any expectation of compensation and without any coercion.  For example, a volunteer might be someone donating services for public service, religious, charitable, humanitarian or other non-profit work.  In order to qualify as a volunteer who does not need toRead More

One of the best ways to reduce risk of lawsuits is to apply the “golden rule” at work, with the understanding that there is still a hierarchy regarding decisionmaking.  Most employees calling lawyers have not necessarily been treated illegally but have been treated unfairly, rudely, or insensitively, or have been bullied by a manager whoRead More

One of the more common wage and hour violations seen by the Department of Labor is illegal wage deductions and failure to pay employees when their employment ends.  The law that applies to deductions from checks is 26 M.R.S.A. § 626.  According to the law, An employee leaving employment must be paid in full withinRead More

There has been lot of discussion recently about designation of FMLA and what happens if an employee declines FMLA and asks for some other leave first, saving the FMLA for later.  As an employer, setting up a scenario where an employee is out for leave after leave is not a good one for running aRead More

As of January 1, 2015, all employers, not just certain employers, will be subject to new reporting requirements.  As of that same date, there are also changes in recording certain accidents and illnesses by certain industries.  One source of assistance in this set of changes is our own Maine Department of Labor (“DOL”). While thereRead More

At a recent Maine Human Rights Commission hearing, one of the commissioners pointedly asked one of the parties, “if this was so critical, as you’re saying, why isn’t it written down somewhere?”  The employer’s HR Director had no answer.  The employer lost the case, in part because it had failed to engage in the interactiveRead More

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) has issued new regulations that go into effect on March 24, 2014.  Those regulations affect federal contractors and subcontractors, which the OFCCP defines broadly.  If your company has an affirmative action plan (“AAP”) required by OFCCP, these regulations will affect your company and must be implemented beforeRead More

An employee is injured at work – everyone thinks, oh, ok, that’s a worker’s comp problem and off the employee goes to the ten-day provider for an evaluation.  But is that all that applies in terms of employment laws?  The answer is no.  Because so many issues arise in situations like this, it helps toRead More

ADD CELL PHONE, TEXT, AND EMAIL POLICIES IF THEY DON’T ALREADY EXIST IN YOUR COMPANY’S PERSONNEL POLICIES. OSHA has made a push to encourage company texting policy under its distracted driver campaign, which makes it a good time to look over your own company’s policies to see if they follow best practices in this area. Read More